Drug runner unlikely to walk free in Australia again

Geoff has been working in regional news since 2010 when he started at the Chinchilla News. He since worked at Ipswich's Queensland Times and the central reporting team NewsRegional. He focuses on data journalim, politics and crime.

A DRUG courier who was caught speeding on the Bruce Highway with more than 250g of meth in his car is unlikely to ever walk free in Australia again.

Just after midnight on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, David Paul Lambert was pulled over between Bundaberg and Gladstone for speeding.

Police noticed Lambert was behaving strangely and searched a backpack he had with him.

Inside they found two litres of an odourless liquid Lambert claimed was mouthwash but was in fact the drug GBL.

GBL is an industrial paint stripper that is used as a party and date rape drug and known as "coma in a bottle".

The officers then searched his car and found four mobile phones, $1890 in cash and a "significant" quantity of drugs including cocaine, marijuana, MDA and MDMA and 269g of methylamphetamine.

The court heard the drugs were worth about $85,000.

The boot of the car David Paul Lambert was driving in March 2018.Sarah Steger

At the time Lambert, who was born in Dublin and raised in the UK, was on bail for a similar offence committed at Pimpama. In September 2017 a routine police patrol had found Lambert with quantities of five different types of drugs hidden throughout his car.

After the March offences Lambert spent 309 days in jail waiting to be sentenced.

On Wednesday at Brisbane Supreme Court, Lambert, 39, was sentenced to eight years and two months jail.

He will be eligible to apply for parole in January 2021. But as he is not an Australian citizen he is likely to be deported upon release.

David Paul Lambert was pulled over in this car on the Bruce Highway in March 2018.Sarah Steger

Crown prosecutor Laura Soldi told the court Lambert was alleged to be a courier, transporting drugs across the state.

"The illicit drug industry could not exist without them," she said.

"It was an extraordinary quantity of methamphetamines (Lambert) was found with."

Justice Glenn Martin said he had no hesitation in concluding "the drugs were held for a commercial purpose".

The court heard Lambert had turned to meth for pain relief following four knee surgeries. He quickly became addicted. His addiction caused his marriage to break down, but he and his wife have since reconciled. -NewsRegional